Oil-diverting means for sewing machines



June 12, 1956 c. A. KESSLER ET AL 2,749,864

OIL-DIVERTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES 55 iI :"1 19 j; 3@ 33 A' 50 :l gtz; .A "gy H15 y l l? *Ek-1: [//fll (D @I i( "33 A 34 INVENTORS.

Char/esA.Kess/er, Franz Hal/er F 3 BY and AugusM. Gardner AT TRNE Y June 12, 1956 c. A. KESSLER ET Ax. 2,749,864

OIL-DIVERTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June l2, 1953 INVENTORS, Char/es A. Kessler, Franz Hal/er 0nd Augusf M. Gardner WITNESS ATTORNEY United States APatent O orL-DIvEnriNG MEANS ron SEWING MACHINES Charles A. Kessler, Plainfield, Franz Haller, Union, and August M. Gardner, Elizabeth, N. J., assignors to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 12, 1953, Serial No. 361,246

4 Claims. (Cl. 112-256) This invention relates to sewing machines and more particularly to oil-diverting means for sewing machines.

Many types of high speed sewing machines employ exposed operating members which are adapted to be oscillated back and forth adjacent the work area, and in order to maintain the high operating speeds necessary to meet the demands of competition, such operating members must be fully lubricated at their bearing points. However, when so lubricated, the oscillating members have a tendency to throw oil which may gather upon the work as the latter is fed across the sewing machine work-support. For obvious reasons, this oil thrown onto the work is objectionable.

For example, an overedge sewing machine of the type generally known as Singer class 246 employs a needlethread take-up mechanism comprising a take-up finger carried by the eccentric strap which actuates the trimmer-bar. This finger is moved in a substantially elliptical path by the eccentric strap and the free end thereof operates on the thread between spaced and fixed thread eyes, thereby to take up the slack in the needle-thread when the needle-thread loop has been shed by the looper. Such a take-up finger sometimes has a tendency to throw oil toward the front portion of the machine so that the oil is deposited upon the work. This oil comes from the feeding mechanism and works its way along the eccentric strap until it reaches the take-up finger which, because of its motion, tends to throw oil in a manner of a sling. It is the primary object of the present invention to provide means for overcoming the oil throwing tendencies of such an oscillating member.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive oil-defiecting means which may be readily attached to an existing type of overedge sewing machine.

The foregoing objects, and others ancillary thereto, have been obtained by the provision of an L-shaped sheet metal finger having one leg portion thereof secured bctween the take-up finger and the upper portion of the eccentric strap. This L-shaped member is positioned so that the free leg thereof extends away from the eccentric strap and toward the rear portion of the machine. This member picks up the oil directly from the eccentric strap and diverts it away from the take-up finger and finally deposits the oil into the rear portion of the sewing machine oil sump. One theory of the operation of the present invention is that, due to the fact that the oildiverting member has a large surface exposed to the oil which works its may up along the eccentric strap, it has a tendency to pick up this oil and to divert it from the take-up linger.

The invention, both in structure and in operation, as well as additional objects thereof, will be best understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l represents a front elevation view taken partly in section of an overedge sewing machine embodying the present invention.

mechanism may be viewed.

Fig. 3 represents a fragmentary section taken sub-l stantially along the line 3*-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 represents a section taken substantially along.v

the line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 represents, on an enlarged scale, a fragmentary' section taken substantially along the line 5--5 of Fig. 2.v Fig. 6 represents, on an enlarged scale, a section taken substantially along the line 6 6 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 represents an enlarged perspective view of thef present oil-diverting finger.

The machine has a main frame 1t) which supports over-- edge stitch-forming mechanism comprising a reciprocating needle 11, an under or needle loop-taking looper 12,. and an overedge looper 13 which cooperates with theneedle and looper 12 in the formation of overedge stitches.` The machine also includes a conventional work-feeding mechanism generally designated by the numeral 14 and a cooperating presser device comprising a presser-bar 15 pivotally mounted upon a pin 16 at its rearward portion and carrying at its forward portion a conventional presserfoot 17. Also provided with the present machine is ay trimming mechanism which is adapted to trim the Work at one side of the line of seam formation. The trimming mechanism comprises an upper vibratory trimmer bar 18 pivotally mounted at its rear end 19 on a stud 20 which is` supported by the machine frame and is held therein by a set screw 21.

Vibratory motions are imparted to the trimmer bar by' an eccentric 22 secured upon a rotary main shaft 23,. through the medium of a link 24 having a lower portion surrounding the eccentric 22 and being pivotally connected at 25 to a depending arm 26 of the trimmer bar 18.

Mounted upon the upper end portion of the upstanding link 24 by means of a pair of screws 27, 27 is a take-up arm 28, the upper portion of which is adapted to engage a needle-thread 29 which, as is best disclosed in Fig. 5, passes through a pair of spaced thread eyes 30, 30 before being delivered to the needle 11. The vibratory motion imparted to the take-up arm 28 causes the latter to operate on the needle-thread 29 between the spaced and fixed thread eyes 3), 30, thereby to take up the slack in the needle-thread when the needle-thread loop has been shed by the looper.

As is disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,238,796, which illustrates one form of the above noted Singer class 246 machine, the eccentric 22 which oscillates the link 24 is lubricated so as to facilitate high speed operation. Referring particularly to Fig. 4 of the accompanying patent drawings, the eccentric 22 may be further lubricated by means of an oil wick 31 which extends from the inner portion of the sewing machine frame through a tube 32. This wick 31 is adapted to be disposed substantially at all times within an opening 33 provided in a shoulder portion of the link 24 so that the oil from the wick may be delivered to the surface of the eccentric by way of a small conduit 34 which communicates with the aperture 33. Although the wick 31 is effective for lubricating the eccentric, it will be understood that under certain conditions some of this lubricant may work its way up along the link 24 which, because of its motion, tends to throw the oil in the manner of a sling toward the forward portion of the sewing machine to the end that the work may be splattered with oil.

The present invention is provided so as to prevent this oil from being thrown from the take-up finger 28 and it comprises essentially an L-shaped sheet metal finger generally designated by the numeral 35, which Patented .lune 12, 1956" linger has its base limb 36 provided with a pair of apertures 37, 37 so that the unit may be positioned between the link 24 and the take-up finger 28 and be secured to the link 24 by means of the above noted screws 27, 27. The free limb 38 of the nger extends away from the eccentric strap or link 24 and toward the rear portion of the machine in a manner as is perhaps best disclosed in Fig. l. In this connection, it will be appreciated that the eccentric 22 operates on the lower portion of the link 24 so as to cause the upper end portion of the link to be oscillated back and forth in a path contained substantially within a vertical plane. The solid and dotted line positions illustrated in Fig. 4 graphically depict the back-andforth oscillations of the link 24. Thus, with the oildiverting finger 3S positioned in a manner as disclosed in Fig. 4 it will be appreciated that the free end portion 38 of the finger is substantially aligned in parallel relation with the path of link oscillation.

Referring particularly to Figs. 4, 6 and 7, the outer adjacent edge portions of the base limb 36 are bent relative to the body portion of the finger so as to form substantially an inverted L-shaped ledge designated by the numeral 39. Whenever the finger is positioned between the link and the take-up arm 28, the inverted L-shaped ledge 39 will partially surround the upper portion of the link 24 so as to divert any oil which works its way upwardly along the link to the end that such oil is forced into contact with the free limb 38 of the finger. Furthermore, the adjaeently disposed inner edge portions of the two limbs of the L-shaped finger 35 are merged together so as to form a concave inner edge portion designated by the numeral 40. This concave portion facilitates the transfer of. the oil droplets from the link 24 to the free limb portion 33 of the finger so that as the finger is oscillated back and forth the oil droplets have a tendency to work their way along the limb 38 so as to be deposited finally into the rear portion of a sewing machine housing from which it will find its way downwardly into the oil sump without coming into contact with the work as the latter is fed across the work-plate. As mentioned hereinabove, one theory of the operation of the present oil finger is that the oil-diverting member 35 has a large surface exposed to the oil which works its way along the eccentric strap link 24, and thus the finger has a tendency to pick up this oil and to divert it from the take-up finger.

It will be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exact details therein shown and described and that the principles involved may be applied in other mechanisms without departure from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what we claim herein is:

1. In a sewing machine, a frame, a substantially vertically elongated member, means carried by said frame and connected with the lower end portion of said member for oscillating the upper end of said member back and forth, oil-conveying means disposed adjacent the lower end portion of said member for lubricating the same, and an oil-diverting element comprising a substantially flat horizontally elongated finger with the edge portions at one end thereof being bent relative to the body portion of said finger to form a substantially inverted L-shaped ledge, said finger having its said one end portion secured to the upper end of said member with said inverted L- shaped ledge partially covering the upper end of said member and with the body portion of said finger extending laterally from said member so as to divert oil therefrom.

2. In a sewing machine, a frame, an elongated member, a thread-engaging arm having one end thereof secured to a first end of said member, means carried by said frame and connected with the second end portion of said member for oscillating the first end of said member and said arm back and forth, oil-conveying means disposed adjacent the second end of said member for lubricating the same, and an oil-diverting element comprising a substantially flat elongated finger having one end portion thereof interposed bodily between said member and said arm and being secured to said member with the body portion of said finger extending laterally from said member in substantial parallel alignment with the path of oscillation of the first end of said member.

3. ln a sewing machine, a frame, a substantially vertically elongated member, an upright thread-engaging arm having the upper end thereof secured to one end of said member, means carried by said frame and connected with the lower end portion of said member for oscillating the upper end of said member and said arm back and forth, oil-conveying means disposed adjacent the lower end of said member for lubricating the same, and an oildiverting element comprising a substantially fiat horizontally elongated finger with the edge portion at one end thereof being bent relative to the body portion of said finger to form a substantially inverted L-shaped ledge, said finger having its said one end portion interposed bodily between said member and said arm and being secured to said member with said ledge partially covering the upper end of said member and with the body portion of said finger extending laterally from said member so as to divert oil therefrom.

4. In a sewing machine, a frame, a rotatable eccentric carried by said frame, a substantially vertically elongated member having its lower end portion embracing .said rotary eccentric thereby to be oscillated by such eccentric, an oil-conducting conduit formed in said member and leading to said eccentric, oil-conveying means disposed adjacent said member for delivering oil to said conduit, an upright thread-engaging arm having its lower end secured to the upper end of said member, and an oil-diverting element comprising a substantially fiat horizontally elongated finger with the edge portion at one end thereof being bent relative to the body portion of said finger to form a substantially inverted L-shaped ledge, said finger having its said one end portion interposed bodily between said member and said arm and being secured to said member with said ledge partially covering the upper end of said member and with the body portion of said finger extending laterally from said member so as to divert oil therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,388,345 Kemble Aug. 23, 1921 1,464,662 Ritz Aug. 14, 1923 2,238,796 Knaus Apr. 15, 1941 2,297,061 Knaus Sept. 29, 1942 2,300,973 Rogers Nov. 3, 1942 2,483,036 Christensen Sept. 27, l949 

